Sunday, October 17, 2010

IL-9: The Clear Difference between Joel Pollak and Jan Schakowsky

Joel Pollak is the Republican candidate for the Congress in Illinois' 9th district. The differences between him and his opponent corrupt Democrat, Jan Schakowsky, couldn't be more clear. For example, Schakowsky believes that only the government can end the recession, where Pollak believes the free market is necessary:

Q: Is there a role for the federal government in determining what kind of economy we should have?Schakowsky: Only the federal government can spur sufficient demand to end a recession; the Recovery Act stopped the current recession from becoming another Great Depression. The Wall Street reform law set rules to prevent the recklessness that cost 8 million jobs and created the Consumer Financial Protection Agency to prevent a recurrence. And the federal government also supports essential parts of our economy including public schools, fire and police protection, defense, Social Security and Medicare.

Pollak: We have a free market, capitalist economy. The federal government’s role is to enforce the law, uphold contracts, and help those in dire need. Under both Bush and Obama, we have seen the federal government expand its control of our economy. That is bad for jobs, bad for opportunity, and bad for freedom. The last thing we need are politicians who live on taxpayers’ money telling us what to buy, where to work and whom to hire.

Additionally, the New York Times is reporting that the candidates' stances on Israel are becoming a campaign issue for both of these Jewish candidates. Although Schakowsky's record is reasonably pro-Israel, the New York Times reports two interesting pieces of information: President Obama's decreasing approval among the Jewish community and Schakowsky's association with J-Street:

While political analysts regard Mrs. Schakowsky’s seat as safe, Mr. Pollak’s Israel-centric campaign has made for one of the tightest races in the Ninth District in the last 50 years. She considers it a trumped-up wedge issue, but is not ignoring Mr. Pollak’s criticism.

She conceded that her contest is “exemplary of some of the tension within the community,” largely over whether President Obama’s policies have been sufficiently supportive of Israel.

Mr. Obama and Mrs. Schakowsky have been criticized by some Jews for their connections to the left-leaning Jewish organization J Street, which describes itself as strongly pro-Israel but believes that Israeli government policies should not be exempt from criticism.

The Pollak campaign reports that Schakowsky raised campaign funds at an event with noted anti-Semite,Helen Thomas. Schakowsky states she did not know of Thomas's views, but has yet to return any funds raised at that event. Additionally, Schakowsky has expressed support for CAIR (the Council on American-Islamic Relations) which does not seem congruent with a self-professed support for Israel, nor her voting record.

As the New York Times states, this race is stated to be a safe Democratic seat although it's a lot closer race than in decades. Internal polling by the Pollak campaign shows that Schakowsky has fallen below48% meaning that with a little more than two weeks until the election, anything can happen.